Short hops and hard knocks with Red Sox beat writer Ian Browne.

A Patriotic Sunday

It’s a lazy Sunday here at City of Palms, with not a whole heck of a lot of news going on. It was nice to see a group of Red Sox Minor Leaguers playthe Military All-Stars on the back field this morning.

Former Sox general manager Dan Duquette is working with that team, and former Sox first baseman Brian Daubach was managing. A guy by the name of Doug Flutie played second base for the Military Stars today, and led off. In a shocker, Flutie remains in great shape at the age of 46.

While Flutie was a special guest, many of the military All-Stars are going to various places to get their baseball fix.

“This is a
barnstorming tour,” Duquette said. “We go around from city to city. We’re kind of like the Harlem
Globetrotters of baseball. It’s a fun thing and a good way to connect. People can
relate to baseball and they can relate to the service, they can relate to
patriotism.”

These aren’t professional-caliber players just yet, but that also isn’t the point.

“They are the
best of the best of the U.S. Military,” said Duquette. “We are developing a farm system of our
own for the U.S. Military All-Stars, but I can tell you last year we beat the
Cape League All-Stars.”

Daubach is also having a good time of it.

“Just being around
them, they’re great guys and sweeing how much they love baseball and what they’ve
done for our country, it’s very special,” Daubach said. “They love
hearing baseball stories and we love hearing about what it’s all about over
there. It’s been great.”

Two of the troops are from the New England area: LT Junior Grade Will Sheehan (Boston) and Hospitcal Medic third class Jeff Heriot (Franklin, MA).

Even though he was not exactly an All-Star GM with us, it is good to see Duquette still contributing to baseball. And Doug Flutie playing 2B? Now THAT”S COOL! ;) Good to see this collaboration between the Red Sox and the US military team! God Bless our troops, in this country, and around the globe. Stay safe and strong! GO SOX!

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